UK misses out on Nike World Cup ad, Rooney red-hot with anger (maybe)

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That Nike World Cup ad I mentioned the other day has aired, I think, 800 million times over the past few days on TV. I know I saw it at least once during the Champions League final at the weekend (which Inter thoroughly deserved to win). But get this: the very first time the ad aired in the UK the final six seconds of the ad never made it on the air! Someone’s getting fired…

Here’s the LOL-worthy statement from ITV, where the ad was supposed to debut during said Champions League final:

A technical problem affected play-out of a Nike advertisement for approximately 6 seconds to ITV1 regions in the south of England and Wales. ITV has apologised unreservedly to Nike and we are engaged in dialogue with the client regarding the issue.

It’s estimated that Nike had to cough up anywhere from £350,000 to £500,000 ($503,000 to $719,000) to air the ad. That’s just to air the ad, mind you, not how much it cost to create. Drogba, Rooney, Ronaldo & Co. don’t come cheap.

Nike called the mix-up “disappointing,” noting that the ad had some 5 million views online and, golly gee, it sure would have been neat for actual TV viewers to see it.